China Tour 2012: Day Three

The brakes squealed in complaint as our rickshaw maneuvered the sharp curve from one alleyway to the next as we made our way through the narrow side streets of the Hutong. Barely slipping through the passages ourselves, around the next curve came an oncoming rickshaw, our driver edged closer and closer to the walls trying to avoid what was certainly going to result in a collision of tangled wheels and tourists!

Earlier that morning our day began with the usual buffet breakfast and a ride through the city. Our first stop was a pearl factory outlet sponsored by the government. Remember, this tour is partially subsidized by the Chinese government in an attempt to develop tourism - the “smokeless industry.” There will be 8,000 Canadians arriving in China this year, another 10,000 next year with 15,000 the year after and peaking at 30,000 in 2015. The industry is well organized with periodic stops at these government factory outlets to promote spending for the benefit of the local economies. A small price to pay for a visit of the nature we are experiencing, unless of course Lucie happens to take a liking to some of the magnificent pearls on display.

As it turned out, Lucie did find a very attractive pearl bracelet that she was able to haggle into a even more attractive price. The factory outlet was followed by a short ride to our lunch stop for today.

Pictured below, a skyline of Beijing on the way to the pearl outlet, a shot of some pearls on the half-shell, and Lucie bargaining for her bracelet.

That afternoon, the residents of Beijing are taking advantage of the beautiful blue skies and 90 degree weather to come to the most famous park in Beijing, the Summer Palace. Thousands of people crowded the shore of the lake and the walkways as we made our way through the grounds in search of the favorite hideaway of the Empress Cixi, the last of the Dynasties true leaders. This, the Chinese version of Camp David, is at once an incredible reflection of a world from the past and a testament to what drives a nation's citizens to revolution. One can't help but be reminded of the decadence of Versailles in Paris, where the excesses of the monarchs drove the peasants to revolt.

The walkway through the woods was covered by a wooden roof that was adorned with 14,000 different paintings.

Many different types of watercraft could be seen on the lake such as this one adorned with a dragon.

This boat was made for Empress Cixi out of marble, while it never actually sailed, many a wild party were held aboard.

Our visit of the Summer Palace ended with this decorative bridge.

From the Summer Palace we made our way to visit a traditional Beijing Hutong. These are alleys formed by lines of siheyuan, traditional courtyard residences. Many neighborhoods were formed by joining one siheyuan to another to form a hutong, and then joining one hutong to another. Hutongs date back to the early 1400s and were where the Emperor's court lived. Today, the residents are less fortunate, where many siheyuan are shared with multiple families, up to as many as 12 in one.

Our visit of the Hutong was unique – we road in a rickshaw through the alleys and streets. Although we had many close calls, there were no collisions on our tour of this real Beijing neighborhood.

Our last stop before dinner was the Beijing Olympic Park where we saw the famous Bird's Nest Stadium. Today it gets little use due to its enormous size – a capacity of 110,000. I couldn't resist a shot of the IBM building across the street.